THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  ILLINOIS 


LIBRARY 

AAO 


SroRafe 


A 


LECTURE 

ON 

EXISTING  E VILS 


AND 

THEIR  REMEDY : 

AS 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  ARCH  STREET  THEATRE 


TO  THE 

CITIZENS  OF  PHIL  A DELPHI  A, 


JUNE  2,  1829 


BIT  FRANCES  WRISH2. 


NEW  YORK: 

GEORGE  H.  EVANS,  PRINTER,  40  THOMPSON  STREET. 


1829, 


Southern  District  of  New  York,  ss. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  June,  A.D  1829* 
in  the  fifty-third  year  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  Frances 
Wright,  of  the  said  district,  hath  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a book,  the  right 
whereof  she  claims  as  author  and  proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit: 

“ A Lecture  on  Existing  Evils  and  their  Remedy : as  delivered  in  the  Arch  Street 
Theatre,  to  the  Citizens  of  Philadelphia,  June  2,  1829  By  Frances  Wright.” 

In  conformity  to  the  act  of  congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  “An  act  for  the 
encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the 
authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  time  therein  mentioned  and  also  to 
an  act,  entitled,  “An  act  supplementary  to  an  act,  entitled,  an  act  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors  and 
proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  time  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  benefits 
thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other  prints” 

FREDERICK  I.  BETTS, 

Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York- 


I Y palmer 


in  o 
r\t  tr*L 


ON 

EXISTING  EVILS. 


£ 


Having  now  traced  with  you  what  knowledge  is  in  matter  and 
in  mind ; what  virtue  is  in  human  conduct,  where  its  rules  are  to 
be  sought,  and  how  they  may  be  found;  tested,  by  the  standard 
thus  supplied,  the  ruling  topic  of  discussion  and  instruction  through- 
out this  country ; shown  that,  while  this  topic  subtracts  from  the 
wealth  of  the  nation  twenty  millions  per  annum,  and  from  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  the  people  social  fellowship  and  common 
sense,  it  has  in  its  nature  no  real  existence — is  not  knowledge, 
^ but  only  imagination — is  not  fact,  but  only  theory  ; and  having 
shown,  moreover,  that  theory  can  supply  no  subject  matter  of  in- 
''^struction  ; that  the  teaching  of  opinions  is  as  erroneous  in  prin- 
ciple as  it  is  dangerous  in  practice  ; that  the  duty  of  the  instructor 
is  simply  to  enrich  the  mind  with  knowledge,  to  awaken  the  eye, 
and  the  ear,  and  the  touch  to  the  perception  of  things,  the  judg- 
ment to  their  comparison  and  arrangement,  and  to  leave  the  free, 
unbiassed  mind  to  draw  its  own  conclusions  from  the  evidence 
thus  collected, — I shall  now  commence  a few  parting  observations 
on  the  necessity  of  commencing,  and  gradually  perfecting,  a ra- 
dical reform  in  your  existing  outlays  of  time  and  money — on  and 
in  churches,  theological  colleges,  privileged  and  exclusive  semi- 
naries of  all  descriptions,  religious  Sabbath  schools,  and  all  their 
aids  and  adjuncts  of  Ribles,  tracts,  missionaries,  priests,  and 
preachers,  multiplied  and  multiplying  throughout  the  land,  until 
they  promise  to  absorb  more  capital  than  did  the  temple  of  Solo- 
mon, and  to  devour  more  of  the  first  fruits  of  industry  than  did 
the  tribe  of  Levi  in  the  plenitude  of  its  power  ; — on  the  necessity, 
I say,  of  substituting  for  your  present  cumbrous,  expensive,  use- 
less, or  rather  pernicious,  system  of  partial,  opinionative,  and 
dogmatical  instruction,  one  at  once  national,  rational,  and  re- 
publican ; one  which  shall  take  for  its  study  our  own  world  and 
our  own  nature ; for  its  object  the  improvement  of  man  ; and  for 


372260 


4 


its  means,  the  practical  development  of  truth,  the  removal  of  temp- 
tations to  evil,  and  the  gradual  equalization  of  human  condition, 
human  duties,  and  human  enjoyments,  by  the  equal  diffusion  of 
knowledge  without  distinction  of  class  or  sect — both  of  which 
distinctions  are  as  inconsistent  with  republican  institutions  as 
they  are  with  reason  and  with  common  sense,  with  virtue  and 
with  happiness. 

Time  is  it  in  this  land  to  commence  this  reform.  Time  is  it 
to  check  the  ambition  of  an  organized  clergy,  the  demoralizing 
effects  of  a false  system  of  law  ; to  heal  the  strife  fomented  by 
sectarian  religion  and  legal  disputes;  to  bring  down  the  pride  of 
ideal  wealth,  and  to  raise  honest  industry  to  honor.  Time  is  it 
to  search  out  the  misery  in  the  land  and  to  heal  it  at  the  source. 
Time  is  it  to  remember  the  poor  and  the  afflicted,  ay ! and  the 
vicious  and  the  depraved.  Time  is  it  to  perceive  that  every  sor- 
row which  corrodes  the  human  heart,  every  vice  which  diseases 
the  body  and  the  mind,  every  crime  which  startles  the  ear  and 
sends  back  the  blood  affrighted  to  the  heart — is  the  product  of 
one  evil,  the  foul  growth  from  one  root,  the  distorted  progeny  of 
one  corrupt  parent — Ignorance. 

Time  is  it  to  perceive  this  truth;  to  proclaim  it  on  the  house  to|), 
in  the  market  place,  in  city  and  forest,  throughout  the  land;  to 
acknowledge  it  in  the  depths  of  our  hearts,  and  to  apply  all  our 
energies  to  the  adoption  of  those  salutary  measures  which  this 
salutary  truth  spontaneously  suggests.  Time  is  it,  I say,  to  turn 
our  churches  into  halls  of  science,  our  schools  of  faith  into  schools 
of  knowledge,  our  privileged  colleges  into  state  institutions  for 
all  the  youth  of  the  land.  Time  is  it  to  arrest  our  speculations 
respecting  unseen  worlds  and  inconceivable  mysteries,  and  to  ad- 
dress our  enquiries  to  the  improvement  of  our  human  condition, 
and  our  efforts  to  the  practical  illustration  of  those  beautiful  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  and  equality  enshrined  in  the  political  institu- 
tions, and,  first  and  chief,  in  the  national  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence. 

And  by  whom  and  howr  are  these  changes  to  be  effected?  By 
whom!  And  do  a free  people  ask  the  question  ? By  themselves. 
By  themselves — the  people. 

I am  addressing  the  people  of  Philadelphia — the  people  of  a 
city  where  Jefferson  penned  the  glorious  declaration  which  awoke 
this  nation  and  the  world — the  city,  where  the  larum  so  astounding 
to  tyranny,  so  fraught  with  hope  and  joy  and  exulting  triumph  to 
humankind,  was  first  sounded  in  the  ears  of  Americans.  I speak 
to  the  descendants  of  those  men  who  heard  from  the  steps  of  their 
old  state  house  the  principles  of  liberty  and  equality  first  proclaimed 
to  man.  I speak  to  the  inhabitants  of  a city  founded  by  the  most 
peaceful,  the  most  humane,  and  the  most  practical  of  all  Christian 
sects.  I speak  to  mechanics  who  are  uniting  for  the  discovery  of 


iheir  interests  and  the  protection  of  their  rights.  I speak  to  a pub- 
lic whose  benevolence  has  been  long  harrowed  by  increasing  pau- 
perism, and  whose  social  order  and  social  happiness  are  threatened 
by  increasing  vice.  I speak  to  sectarians  who  are  weary  of  sec- 
tarianism. L speak  to  honest  men  who  tremble  for  their  honesty. 
I speak  to  the  dishonest  whose  integrity  has  fallen  before  the  dis- 
couragements waiting  upon  industry,  and  who,  by  slow  degrees, 
or  in  moments  of  desperation,  have  forsaken  honest  labor,  because 
without  a reward,  for  fraudulent  speculation,  because  it  promised 
one  chance  of  success  to  a thousand  chances  of  ruin.  I speak  to 
parents  anxious  for  their  offspring — to  husbands  who,  while  short- 
ening their  existence  by  excess  of  labor,  foresee,  at  their  death,  not 
sorrow  alone,  but  unrequited  industry  and  hopeless  penury,  in- 
volving shame,  and  perhaps  infamy,  for  their  oppressed  widows 
and  unprotected  children.  I speak  to  human  beings  surrounded 
by  human  suffering — to  fellow  citizens  pledged  to  fellow  feeling — 
to  republicans  pledged  to  equal  rights  and,  as  a consequent,  to 
equal  condition  and  equal  enjoyments  ; and  I call  them — oh, 
w’ould  that  my  voice  were  loud  to  reach  every  ear,  and  persuasive 
to  reach  every  heart ! — I call  them  to  unite  ; and  to  unite  for  the 
consideration  of  the  evils  around  us — for  the  discovery  and  appli- 
cation of  their  remedy. 

Dreadful  has  been  the  distress  exhibited  during  the  past  year, 
not  in  this  city  only,  but  in  every  city  throughout  the  whole  extent 
of  this  vast  republic.  Long  had  the  mass  of  evil  been  accumula- 
ting ere  it  attracted  attention,  and,  would  we  understand  how  far 
the  plague  spot  is  to  spread,  or  what  is  to  be  its  termination,  we 
must  look  to  Europe. 

We  are  fast  travelling  in  the  footsteps  of  Europe,  my  friends, 
for  her  principles  of  action  are  ours.  We  have  in  all  our  habits 
and  usages  the  same  vices,  and,  with  these  same  vices,  we  must 
have,  as  we  see  we  have,  the  same  evils. 

The  great  principles  stamped  in  America’s  declaration  of  inde~ 
pendence  are  true,  are  great,  are  sublime,  and  are  all  her  own. 
But  her  usages,  her  law,  her  religion,  her  education,  are  false, 
narrow,  prejudiced,  ignorant,  and  are  the  relic  of  dark  ages — the 
gift  and  bequeathment  of  king-governed,  priest-ridden  nations, 
whose  supremacy,  indeed,  the  people  of  America  have  challenged 
and  overthrown,  but  whose  example  they  are  still  following. 

A foreigner,  I have  looked  round  on  this  land  unblinded  by  local 
prejudices  or  national  predilections  ; a friend  to  humankind, 
zealous  for  human  improvement,  enamored  to  enthusiasm,  if  you 
will,  of  human  liberty,  I first  sought  this  country  to  see  in  opera- 
tion those  principles  consecrated  in  her  national  institutions,  and 
whose  simple  grandeur  had  fired  the  enthusiasm  and  cheered  the 
heart  of  my  childhood,  disgusted  as  it  was  with  the  idle  parade  and 
pride  of  unjust  power  inherent  in  European  aristocracy.  De- 


6 


lighted  with  the  sound  of  political  liberty,  the  absence  of  bayonets 
and  constrained  taxation,  I spake  and  published,  as  I felt,  in  praise 
of  American  institutions;  and  called,  and,  I believe,  first  generally 
awakened,  the  attention  of  the  European  public  to  their  study  and 
eciation. 


flisappointed,  in  common  with  all  the  friends  of  liberty  in  Eu~ 
rope^  by  the  issue  of  the  well  imagined,  but  ill  sustained,  revolu- 
tions of  the  old  continent,  which  closed,  as  you  will  remember,  by 
the  triumph  of  France  and  the  holy  alliance  over  the  bands  of 
Riego  and  Mina  in  Spain,  I returned  to  this  republic  as  to  the  last 
hope  of  the  human  family,  anxious  to  inspect  it  through  its  wide 
extent  and  to  study  it  in  all  its  details. 

The  result  of  my  observation  has  been  the  conviction,  that  the 
reform  commenced  at  the  revolution  of ’76  has  been  but  little  im- 
proved through  the  term  of  years  which  have  succeeded  ; that  the 
national  policy  of  the  country  was  then  indeed  changed,  but  that 
its  social  economy  has  remained  such  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  its 
European  vassalage. 

In  confirmation  of  this  I will  request  you  to  observe  that  your 
religion  is  the  same  as  that  of  monarchical  England — taught  from 
the  same  books,  and  promulgated  and  sustained  by  similar  means, 
viz.  a salaried  priesthood,  set  apart  from  the  people;  sectarian 
churches,  in  whose  property  the  people  have  no  share,  and  over 
whose  use  and  occupancy  the  people  have  no  control ; expensive 
missions,  treasury  funds,  associations,  and,  above  all,  a compulsory 
power,  compounded  at  once  of  accumulated  wealth,  established 
custom,  extensive  correspondence,  and  a system  of  education  im- 
bued with  its  spirit  and  all  pervaded  by  its  influence. 

Again — in  proof  of  the  similarity  between  your  internal  policy 
and  that  of  monarchical  England,  I will  request  you  to  observe 
that  her  law  is  your  law.  Every  part  and  parcel  of  that  absurd, 
cruel,  ignorant,  inconsistent,  incomprehensible  jumble,  styled  the 
common  law  of  England — every  part  and  parcel  of  it,  I say,  not 
abrogated  or  altered  expressly  by  legislative  statutes,  which  has 
been  very  rarely  done,  is  at  this  hour  the  law  of  revolutionized 
America. 

Farther — in  proof  of  the  identity  of  your  fabric  of  civil  polity 
with  that  of  aristocratical  England,  I will  request  you  to  observe 
that  the  system  of  education  pursued  in  both  countries  is,  with 
little  variations,  one  and  the  same.  There  you  have  endowed 
universities,  privileged  by  custom,  enriched  by  ancient  royal  favor, 
protected  by  parliamentary  statutes,  and  devoted  to  the  upholding, 
perpetuating,  and  strengthening  the  power  and  privilege  to  which 
they  owe  their  origin.  There,  too,  you  have  parish  schools  under 
the  control  of  the  parish  priest,  and  a press  every  where  coerced 
by  law,  swayed,  bribed,  or  silenced  by  ascendant  parties  or  tyran- 
nous authority.  And  here  have  we  not  colleges  with  endowments 


still  held  by  the  loyal  charters  which  first  bestowed  them,  and  col- 
leges with  lands  and  money  granted  by  American  legislatures ; 
not  for  the  advantage  of  the  American  people,  but  for  that  of  their 
rulers ; for  the  children  of  privileged  professions  upon  whom  is 
thus  entailed  the  privdege  of  their  fathers,  and  that  as  certainly 
as  the  son  of  a duke  is  born  to  a dukedom  in  England.  Here 
have  we  not  also  schools  controlled  by  the  clergy ; nay,  have  we 
not  all  our  public  institutions,  scientific,  literary,  judicial,  or  hu- 
mane, ridden  by  the  spirit  of  orthodoxy  ; and  invaded,  perverted, 
vitiated,  and  tormented  by  opiniative  distinctions  ? And  here  have 
we  not  a press  paralized  by  fear,  disgraced  by  party,  and  ruled 
by  loud  tongued  fanaticism,  or  aspiring  and  threatening  sectarian 
ambition.  And  more,  my  friends,  see  we  not,  in  this  nation  of 
confederated  freemen,  as  many  distinctions  of  class  as  afflict  the 
aristocracies  of  Britain,  or  the  despotism  of  the  Russias ; and  more 
distinctions  of  sect  than  ever  cursed  all  the  nations  of  Europe  to- 
gether, from  the  preaching  of  Peter  the  hermit,  to  the  trances  of 
madame  Krudner,  or  the  miracles  of  prince  Hohenlohe  1 

Surely  all  these  are  singular  anomalies  in  a republic.  Sparta, 
when  she  conceived  her  democracy,  commenced  with  educational 
equality  ; when  she  aimed  at  national  union,  she  cemented  that 
union  in  childhood — at  the  public  board,  in  the  gymnasium,  in 
the  temple,  in  the  common  habits,  common  feelings,  common  du- 
ties, and  common  condition.  And  so,  notwithstanding  all  the 
errors  with  which  her  institutions  were  fraught,  and  all  the  vices 
which  arose  out  of  those  errors,  did  she  present  for  ages,  a won- 
drous sample  of  democratic  union,  and  consequently  of  national 
prosperity  ? 

What,  then,  is  wanted  here?  What  Sparta  had — a national 
education.  And  what  Sparta,  in  many  respects,  had  not — a ra- 
tional education. 

Hitherto,  my  friends,  in  government  as  in  every  branch  of 
morals,  we  have  but  too  much  mistaken  words  for  truths  and  forms 
for  principles.  To  render  men  free,  it  sufficeth  not  to  proclaim 
their  liberty  ; to  make  them  equal,  it  sufficeth  not  to  call  them  so. 
True,  the  4th  of  July,  ’76  commenced  a new  era  for  our  race. 
True,  the  sun  of  promise  then  rose  upon  the  world.  But  let  us 
not  mistake  for  the  fulness  of  light  what  was  but  its  harbinger. 
Let  us  not  conceive  that  man  in  signing  the  declaration  of  his  rights 
secured  their  possession  ; that  having  framed  the  theory  he  had 
not,  and  hath  not  still,  the  practice  to  seek. 

•Your  fathers,  indeed,  on  the  day  from  which  dates  your  existence 
as  a nation,  opened  the  gates  of  the  temple  of  human  liberty.  But 
think  not  they  entered,  nor  that  you  have  entered,  the  sanctuary. 
They  passed  not,  nor  have  you  passed,  even  the  threshold. 

Who  speaks  of  liberty  while  the  human  mind  is  in  chains  ? 
Who  of  equality  while  the  thousands  are  in  squalid  wretchedness, 


Sxbe  millions  harrassed  with  health-destroying  labor,  the  few  afflict- 
ed with  health-destroying  idleness,  and  all  tormented  by  health- 
destroying  solicitude  ? Look  abroad  on  the  misery  which  is  gain- 
ing on  the  land  ! Mark  the  strife,  and  the  discord,  and  the  jea- 
lousies, the  shock  of  interests  and  opinions,  the  hatreds  of  sect,  the 
estrangements  of  class,  the  pride  of  wealth,  the  debasement  of 
poverty,  the  “helplessness  of  youth  unprotected,  of  age  uncom- 
forted, of  industry  unrewarded,  of  ignorance  unenlightened,  of 
vice  unreclaimed,  of  misery  unpitied,  of  sickness,  hunger,  and 
nakedness  unsatisfied,  unalleviated,  and  unheeded.  Go  ! mark  all 
the  wrongs  and  the  wretchedness  with  which  the  eye  and  the  ear 
and  the  heart  are  familiar,  and  then  echo  in  triumph  and  celebrate 
in  jubilee  the  insulting  declaration — all  men  are  free  and  equal !j 

That  evils  exist,  none  that  have  eyes,  ears,  and  hearts  can  dispute. 
That  these  evils  are  on  the  increase,  none  who  have  watched  the 
fluctuations  of  trade,  the  sinking  price  of  labor,  the  growth  of 
pauperism,  and  the  increase  of  crime,  will  dispute.  Little  need  be 
said  here  to  the  people  of  Philadelphia.  The  researches  made  by 
the  public  spirited  among  their  own  citizens,  have  but  too  well 
substantiated  the  suffering  condition  of  a large  mass  of  their  popu- 
lation. In  Boston,  in  New  York,  in  Baltimore,  the  voice  of  dis- 
tress hath,  in  like  manner,  burst  the  barriers  raised,  and  so  long 
sustained,  by  the  pride  of  honest  industry,  unused  to  ask  from 
charity  what  it  hath  been  wont  to  earn  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow. 
In  each  and  every  city  necessity  has  constrained  enquiry;  and  in 
each  and  every  city  enquiry  has  elicited  the  same  appalling  facts, 
that  the  hardest  labor  is  often  without  a reward  adequate  to  the 
sustenance  of  the  laborer;  that  when,  by  overexertion  and  all  the 
diseases,  and  often  vices,  which  excess  of  exertion  induces,  the 
laborer,  whose  patient,  sedulous  industry  supplies  the  community 
with  all  its  comforts,  and  the  rich  with  all  their  luxuries — when 
he,  I say,  is  brought  to  an  untimely  grave  by  those  exertions  which, 
while  sustaining  the  life  of  others,  cut  short  his  own — when  he  is 
mowed  down  by  that  labor  whose  products  form  the  boasted  wealth 
of  the  state,  he  leaves  a family,  to  whom  the  strength  of  his  man- 
hood had  barely  furnished  bread,  to  lean  upon  the  weakness  of  a 
soul-stricken  mother  and  hurry  her  to  the  grave  of  their  father. 

Such  is  the  information  gleaned  from  the  report  of  the  committee 
lately  appointed  by  the  town  meeting  of  the  city  and  county  of 
Philadelphia,  and  as  verbatim  reiterated  in  every  populous  city 
throughout  the  land.  And  what  are  the  remedies  suggested  by 
our  corporations,  our  newspaper  editors,  our  religious  societies, 
our  tracts,  and  our  sermons'?  Some  have  ordained  fasts,  multiplied 
prayers,  and  recommended  pious  submission  to  a Providence  who 
should  have  instituted  all  this  calamity  for  the  purpose  of  fulfilling 
the  words  of  a Jewish  prophet,  “ the  poor  shall  never  cease  from 
the  land.”  Some,  less  spiritual-minded,  have  called  for  larger 


'J 

jails  and  more  poor  bouses  ; some  for  increased  poor  rates  and  ad- 
ditional benevolent  societies ; others  for  compulsory  laws  protec- 
tive of  labor,  and  fixing  a minimum , below  which  it  shall  be  penal 
to  reduce  it;  while  others,  and  those  not  the  least  able  to  appre- 
ciate all  the  difficulties  of  the  question,  have  sought  the  last  re- 
source of  suffering  poverty  and  oppressed  industry  in  the  humanity 
and  sense  of  justice  of  the  wealthier  classes  of  society. 

This  last  is  the  forlorn  hope  presented  in  the  touching  document 
signed  by  Matthew'  Carey  and  his  fellow  laborers. 

It  were  easy  to  observe,  in  reply  to  each  and  all  of  the  palliatives 
variously  suggested  for  evils,  which  none  profess  to  remedy,  that 
to  punish  crime  when  committed  is  not  to  prevent  its  commission  ; 
to  force  the  work  of  the  poor  iq  noor  houses  is  only  farther  to  glut 
an  already  unproductive^.  market;  to  multiply  charities  is  only  to 
increase  pauperism  ; that  to  fix  by  statute  the  monied  price  of 
labor  would  be  impossible  in  itself,  and,  if  possible,  mischievous 
no  less  to  the  laborer  than  to  the  employer  ; and  that,  under  the 
existing  state  of  things,  for  human  beings  to  lean  upon  the  com- 
passion and  justice  of  their  fellow  creatures,  is  to  lean  upon  a 
rotten  reed. 

I believe  no  individual,  possessed  of  common  sense  and  common 
feeling,  can  have  studied  the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  I 
have  referred,  or  the  multitude  of  similar  documents  furnished 
elsewhere,  without  acknowledging  that  reform,  and  that  not  slight 
nor  partial,  but  radical  and  universal,  is  called  for.  All  must 
admit  that  no  such  reform — that  is,  that  no  remedy  commensurate 
with  the  evil  has  been  suggested,  and  would  we  but  reflect,  we 
should  perceive  that  no  efficient  remedy  can  be  suggested,  or  if 
suggested,  applied,  until  the  people  are  generally  engaged  in  its 
discovery  and  its  application  for  themselves. 

In  this  nation,  any  more  than  in  any  other  nation,  the  mass  has 
never  reflected  for  the  mass ; the  people,  as  a body,  have  never 
addressed  themselves  to  the  study  of  their  own  condition,  and  to 
the  just  and  fair  interpretation  of  their  common  interests.  And, 
as  it  was  with  their  national  independence,  so  shall  it  be  with  their 
national  happiness — it  shall  be  found  only  when  the  mass  shall 
seek  it.  No  people  have  ever  received  liberty  in  gift.  Given,  it 
were  not  appreciated  ; it  were  not  understood.  Won  without  ex- 
ertion, it  were  lost  as  readily.  Let  the  people  of  America  recal 
the  ten  years  of  war  and  tribulation  by  which  they  purchased  their 
national  independence.  Let  efforts  as  strenuous  be  now  made, 
not  with  the  sword  of  steel,  indeed,  but  with  the  sword  of  the  spirit, 
and  their  farther  enfranchisement  from  poverty,  starvation,  and  de- 
pendence must  be  equally  successful. 

Great  reforms  are  not  wrought  in  a day.  Evils  which  are  the 
accumulated  results  of  accumulated  errors,  are  not  to  be  struck 
down  a*  a blow  by  the  rod  of  a magician.  A free  people  may 


JO 


boast  that  all  power  is  in  their  hands  ; but  no  effectual  power  can 
be  in  their  hands  until  knowledge  be  in  their  minds. 

But  how  may  knowledge  be  imparted  to  their  minds?  Such 
effective  knowledge  as  shall  render  apparent  to  all  the  interests 
of  all,  and  demonstrate  the  simple  truths — that  a nation  to  be 
strong,  must  be  united  ; to  be  united,  must  be  equal  in  condition  ; 
to  be  equal  in  condition,  must  be  similar  in  habits  and  in  feeling; 
to  be  similar  in  habits  and  in  feeling,  must  be  raised  in  national 
institutions  as  the  children  of  a common  family , and  citizens  of  a 
common  country. 

Before  entering  on  the  development  of  the  means  I have  here 
suggested  for  paving  our  way  to  the  reform  of  those  evils  which 
now  press  upon  humanity,  and  which,  carried,  perhaps,  to  their 
acme  in  some  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  are  gaining  ground  in 
these  United  States  with  a rapidity  alarming  to  all  who  know  how 
to  read  the  present,  or  to  calculate  the  future,  I must  observe 
that  I am  fully  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  convincing  all  minds  of 
the  urgency  of  these  evils,  and  of  the  impossibility  of  engaging  all 
classes  in  the  application  of  their  remedy. 

/In  the  first  place,  the  popular  suffering,  great  as  it  is,  weighs 
not  with  a sufficiently  equal  pressure  on  all  parts  of  the  country  ; 
and,  in  the  second,  affects  not  equally  all  classes  of  the  popula- 
tion so  as  to  excite  to  that  union  of  exertion,  which  once  made, 
the  reform  is  effected  and  the  nation  redeemed. 

While  the  evil  day  is  only  in  prospect,  or  while  it  visits  our 
neighbor  but  spares  ourselves,  such  is  the  selfishness  generated  by 
existing  habits,  and  such  the  supineness  generated  by  that  selfish- 
ness, that  we  are  but  too  prone  to  shrink  from  every  effort  not  ab- 
solutely and  immediately  necessary  for  the  supply  of  our  own 
wants  or  the  increase  of  our  own  luxuries.  Yet,  would  the  most 
spoilt  child  of  worldly  fortune  but  look  around  him  on  the  changes 
and  chances  which  ofttimes  sweep  away  the  best  secured  treasures, 
and  bring  in  a moment  the  capitalist  to  bankruptcy  and  his  family 
to  want,  he  could  not  feel  himself  entirely  removed  in  sympathy 
from  the  suffering  portion  of  his  fellow  creatures.  But  let  us  take 
the  case  of  the  thriving  artizan,  or  successful  merchant — on  what 
security  does  he  hold  that  pecuniary  independence  which  puts  the 
bread  into  the  mouths  of  his  children,  and  protects  from  destitu- 
tion the  companion  of  his  bosom  ? On  sustained  industry  and  un- 
remitting exertions,  which  sickness  may  interrupt,  a fall  in  the 
market  reduce  to  half  its  value,  or  a few  casualties  or  one  miscal- 
culation in  a moment  annihilate.  Or  what  if  death  finally  inter- 
rupt the  father’s  care  or  the  husband’s  tenderness — where  is  the 
stay  for  his  orphan  children  ? where  succor  for  their  widowed 
mother,  now  charged  alone  with  all  the  weight  of  their  provision  1 
I have  taken  no  extreme  cases  ; I have  taken  such  as  may,  in  the 
course  of  events,  be  the  case  of  every  man  who  hears  me, 


11 


Were  it  my  disposition,  which,  I think,  it  is  not,  to  exaggerate 
evils,  or  were  I even  disposed  to  give  a fair  picture  of  those  really 
existing  among  a large  mass  of  the  American  population,  more 
especially  as  crowded  into  the  cities  and  manufacturing  districts, 
easy  it  were  to  harrow  the  feelings  of  the  least  sensitive,  and,  in 
the  relation,  to  harrow  my  own. 

But  as  the  measure  it  is  my  object  this  evening  to  suggest  to 
the  people  of  Philadelphia,  and  my  intention  hereafter  to  sub- 
mit to  the  whole  American  nation,  must,  at  the  first  sight,  win  to 
its  support  the  more  oppressed  and  afflicted,  1 am  rather  de- 
sirous of  addressing  my  prefactory  arguments  to  that  class  from 
whence  opposition  is  most  to  be  apprehended. 

I know  how  difficult  it  is — reared  as  we  all  are  in  the  distinc- 
tions of  class,  to  say  nothing  of  sect,  to  conceive  of  our  interests 
as  associated  with  those  of  the  whole  community.  The  man  pos- 
sessed of  a dollar,  feels  himself  to  be,  not  merely  one  hundred 
cents  richer,  but  also  one  hundred  cents  better , than  the  man  who 
is  pennyless;  so  on  through  all  the  gradations  of  earthly  posses- 
sions— the  estimate  of  our  own  moral  and  political  importance 
swelling  always  in  a ratio  exactly  proportionate  to  the  growth  of 
our  purse.  The  rich  man  who  can  leave  a clear  independence 
to  his  children,  is  given  to  estimate  them  as  he  estimates  himself, 
and  to  imagine  something  in  their  nature  distinct  from  that  of  the 
less  privileged  heirs  of  hard  labor  and  harder  fare. 

This  might  indeed  appear  too  gross  for  any  of  us  to  advance  in 
theory,  but  in  feeling  how  many  must  plead  guilty  to  the  prejudice  l 
Yetis  there  a moment  when,  were  their  thoughts  known  to  each 
other,  all  men  must  feel  themselves  on  a level.  It  is  when  as 
fathers  they  look  on  their  children,  and  picture  the  possibility 
which  may  render  them  orphans,  and  then  calculate  all  the  casu- 
alties which  may  deprive  them,  if  rich,  of  their  inheritance,  or,  if 
poor,  grind  them  down  to  deeper  poverty. 

But  it  is  first  to  the  rich,  I would  speak.  Can  the  man  of  opu- 
lence feel  tranquil  under  the  prospect  of  leaving  to  such  guardian- 
ship as  existing  law  or  individual  integrity  may  supply,  the  minds, 
bodies,  morals,  or  even  the  fortune  of  their  children  'l  I myself, 
was  an  orphan  ; and  I know  that  the  very  law  which  was  my  pro- 
tector, sucked  away  a portion  of  my  little  inheritance,  while  that 
law,  insufficient  and  avaricious  as  it  was,  alone  shielded  me  from 
spoliation  by  my  guardian.  I know,  too,  that  my  youth  was  one 
of  tribulation,  albeit  passed  in  the  envied  luxuries  of  aristocra- 
cy. I know  that  the  orphan’s  bread  may  be  watered  with  tears, 
even  when  the  worst  evil  be  not  there — dependence. 

Can,  then,  the  rich  be  without  solicitude,  when  they  leave  to 
the  mercy  of  a heartless  world  the  beings  of  their  creation  ? 
Who  shall  cherish  their  young  sensibilities  ? Who  shall  stand  be- 
tween them  and  oppression  ? Who  shall  whisper  peace  in  the  hour 


12 

of  affliction?  Who  shall  supply  principle  in  the  hour  of  temptation? 
Who  shall  lead  the  tender  mind  to  distinguish  between  the  good 
and  the  evil?  Who  shall  fortify  it  against  the  corruptions  of 
wealth,  or  prepare  it  for  the  day  of  adversity  ? Such,  looking 
upon  life  as  it  is,  must  be  the  anxious  thoughts,  even  of  the  weal- 
thy. What  must  be  the  thoughts  of  the  poor  man,  it  needs  not 
that  we  should  picture. 

But,  my  friends,  however  differing  in  degree  may  be  the 
anxiety  of  the  rich  and  the  poor,  still,  in  its  nature,  is  it  the  same. 
Doubt,  uncertainty,  apprehension  are  before  all.  We  hear  of 
deathbed  affliction.  My  friends,  I have  been  often  and  long 
on  the  bed  of  mortal  sickness:  no  fear  had  the  threatened  last 
sleep  for  me,  for  I was  not  a parent. 

We  have  here,  then,  found  an  evil  common  to  all  classes,  and, 
one  that  is  entailed  from  generation  to  generation.  The  measure 
I am  about  to  suggest,  whenever  adopted,  will  blot  this  now  uni- 
versal affliction  from  existence  ; it  will  also,  in  the  outset,  alle- 
viate those  popular  distresses  whose  poignancy  and  rapid  increase 
weigh  on  the  heart  of  philanthropy,  and  crush  the  best  hopes  of 
enlightened  patriotism.  It  must  further,  when  carried  into  full 
effect,  work  the  radical  cure  of  every  disease  which  now  afflicts 
the  body  politic,  and  build  up  for  this  nation  a sound  constitution, 
embracing  at  once,  public  prosperity,  individual  integrity,  and 
universal  happiness. 

This  measure,  my  friends,  has  been  long  present  to  my  mind 
as  befitting  the  adoption  of  the  American  people  ; as  alone  cal- 
culated to  form  an  enlightened,  a virtuous,  and  a happy  commu- 
nity; as  alone  capable  of  supplying  a remedy  to  the  evils  under 
which  we  groan  ; as  alone  commensurate  with  the  interests  of  the 
human  family,  and  consistent  with  the  political  institutions  of  this 
great  confederated  republic. 

I had  occasion  formerly  to  observe,  in  allusion  to  the  efforts 
already  made,  and  yet  making,  in  the  cause  of  popular  instruc- 
tion, more  or  less  throughout  the  Union,  that,  as  yet,  the  true 
principle  has  not  been  hit,  and  that  until  it  be  hit,  all  reform  must 
be  slow  and  inefficient. 

The  noble  example  of  New  England  has  been  imitated  by 
other  states,  until  all  not  possessed  of  common  schools  blush  for 
the  popular  remissness.  But,  after  all,  how  can  common  schools , 
under  their  best  form,  and  in  fullest  supply,  effect  even  the  pur- 
pose which  they  have  in  view  ? 

The  object  proposed  by  common  schools  (if  I rightly  under- 
stand it)  is  to  impart  to  the  whole  population  those  means  for 
the  acquirement  of  knowledge  w'hich  are  in  common  use  : read- 
ing and  writing.  To  these  are  added  arithmetic,  and, occasionally, 
perhaps,  some  imperfect  lessons  in  the  simpler  sciences.  But,  I 
would  ask,  supposing  these  institutions  should  even  be  made  to 


embrace  all  the  branches  of  intellectual  knowledge,  and,  thus, 
science  offered  gratis  to  all  the  children  of  the  land,  how  are 
the  children  of  the  very  class,  for  whom  we  suppose  the  schools 
instituted,  to  be  supplied  with  food  and  raiment,  or  instructed  in 
the  trade  necessary  to  their  future  subsistence,  while  they  are  fol- 
lowing these  studies?  How  are  they,  I ask,  to  be  fed  and  clo- 
thed, when,  as  all  facts  show,  the  labor  of  the  parents  is  often  in- 
sufficient for  their  own  sustenance,  and,  almost  universally,  inade- 
quate to  the  provision  of  the  family  without  the  united  efforts  of 
all  its  members  ? In  your  manufacturing  districts  you  have  chil- 
dren worked  for  twelve  hours  a day  ; and,  in  the  rapid  and  cer- 
tain progress  of  the  existing  system,  you  will  soon  have  them,  as  in 
England,  worked  to  death , and  yet  unable,  through  the  period  of 
their  miserable  existence,  to  earn  a pittance  sufficient  to  satisfy 
the  cravings  of  hunger.  At  this  present  time,  what  leisure  or 
what  spirit,  think  you,  have  the  children  of  the  miserable  widows 
of  Philadelphia,  realizing,  according  to  the  most  favorable  esti- 
mate of  your  city  and  county  committee,  sixteen  dollars  per  an- 
num, for  food  and  clothing?  what  leisure  or  what  spirit  may  their 
children  find  for  visiting  a school,  although  the  same  should  be 
open  to  them  from  sunrise  to  sunset?  Or  what  leisure  have  usu- 
ally the  children  of  your  most  thriving  mechanics,  after  their 
strength  is  sufficiently  developed  to  spin,  sew,  weave,  or  wield  a 
tool  ? It  seems  to  me,  my  friends,  that  to  build  school  houses 
nowadays  is  something  like  building  churches.  When  you  have 
them,  you  ueed  some  measure  to  ensure  their  being  occupi*  d. 

But,  as  our  time  is  short,  and  myself  somewhat  fatigued  by 
continued  exertions,  1 must  hasten  to  the  rapid  development  of  the 
system  of  instruction  and  protection  which  has  occurred  to  me  as 
capable,  and  alone  capable,  of  opening  the  door  to  universal 
reform. 

In  lieu  of  all  common  schools,  high  schools,  colleges,  semina- 
ries, houses  of  refuge,  or  any  other  juvenile  institution,  instruc- 
tional or  protective,  I would  suggest  that  the  state  legislatures  be 
directed  (after  laying  off  the  whole  in  townships  or  hundreds)  to 
organize,  at  suitable  distances,  and  in  convenient  and  healthy 
situations,  establishments  for  the  general  reception  of  all  the  chil- 
dren resident  within  the  said  school  district.  These  establish- 
ments to  be  devoted,  severally,  to  children  between  a certain  age. 
Say,  the  first  to  infants  between  twro  and  four,  or  two  and  six, 
according  to  the  density  of  the  population,  and  such  other  local 
circumstances  as  might  render  a greater  or  less  number  of  esta- 
blishments necessary  or  practicable.  The  next  to  receive  children 
from  four  to  eight,  or  six  to  twelve  years.  The  next  from  twelve 
to  sixteen,  or  to  an  older  age  if  found  desirable.  Each  establish- 
ment to  be  furnished  with  instructors  in  every  branch  of  knowledge, 
intellectual  and  operative,  wfith  all  the  apparata,  land,  and  con- 


14 


veniences  necessary  for  the  best  development  of  all  knowledge  ; 
the  same,  whether  operative  or  intellectual,  being  alvVays  calcula- 
ted to  the  age  and  strength  of  the  pupils. 

To  obviate,  in  the  commencement,  every  evil  result  possible 
from  the  first  mixture  of  a young  population,  so  variously  raised 
in  error  or  neglect,  a due  separation  should  be  made  in  each  es- 
tablishment; by  which  means  those  entering  with  bad  habits 
would  be  kept  apart  from  the  others  until  corrected.  How  rapidly 
reform  may  be  effected  on  the  plastic  disposition  of  childhood, 
has  been  sufficiently  proved  in  your  houses  of  refuge,  more  espe- 
cially when  such  establishments  have  been  under  liberal  superin- 
tendance, as  was  formerly  the  case  in  New  York.  Under  their 
orthodox  directors  those  asylums  of  youth  have  been  converted 
into  jails. 

It  will  be  understood  that,  in  the  proposed  establishments,  the 
children  would  pass  from  one  to  the  other  in  regular  succession, 
and  that  the  parents,  who  would  necessarily  be  resident  in 
their  close  neighborhood,  could  visit  the  children  at  suitable  hours, 
but,  in  no  case,  interfere  with  or  interrupt  the  rules  of  the  institu- 
tion. 

In  the  older  establishments,  the  well  directed  and  well  protect- 
ed labor  of  the  pupil  would,  in  time,  suffice  for,  and,  then,  exceed, 
their  own  support ; when  the  surplus  might  be  devoted  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  infant  establishments. 

In  the  beginning,  and  until  all  debt  was  cleared  off,  and  so  long 
as  the  same  should  be  found  favorable  to  the  promotion  of  these 
best  palladiums  of  a nation’s  happiness,  a double  tax  might  be  at 
once  expedient  and  politic. 

First,  a moderate  tax  per  head  for  every  child,  to  be  laid  upon 
its  parents  conjointly,  or  divided  between  them,  due  attention 
being  always  paid  to  the  varying  strength  of  the  two  sexes*  and 
to  the  undue  depreciation  which  now  rests  on  female  labor.  The 
more  effectually  to  correct  the  latter  injustice,  as  well  as  to  consult 
the  convenience  of  the  industrious  classes  generally,  this  parental 
tax  might  be  rendered  payable  either  in  money,  or  in  labor,  pro- 
duce, or  domestic  manufactures,  and  should  be  continued  for  each 
child  until  the  age  when  juvenile  labor  should  be  found,  on  the 
average,  equivalent  to  the  educational  expenses,  which,  I have  rea- 
son to  believe,  would  be  at  twelve  years. 

This  first  tax  on  parents  to  embrace  equally  the  whole  popu- 
lation ; as,  however  moderate,  it  would  inculcate  a certain  fore- 
thought in  all  the  human  family ; more  especially  where  it  is  most 
wanted — in  young  persons,  who,  before  they  assumed  the  respon- 
sibility of  parents,  would  estimate  their  fitness  to  meet  it. 

The  second  tax  to  be  on  property,  increasing  in  per  centage 
with  the  wealth  of  the  individual.  In  this  manner  I conceive  the 
rich  would  contribute,  according  to  their  riches,  to  the  relief  of 


i5 

tiie  poor,  and  to  the  support  of  the  state,  by  raising  up  its  best  bui 
wark — an  enlightened  and  united  generation. 

Preparatory  to,  or  connected  with,  such  measures,  a registry 
should  be  opened  by  the  state,  with  offices  through  all  the  town- 
ships, where,  on  the  birth  of  every  child,  or  within  a certain  time 
appointed,  the  same  should  be  entered,  together  with  the  names 
of  its  parents.  When  two  years  old,  the  parental  tax  should  be 
payable,  and  the  juvenile  institution  open  for  the  child’s  recep- 
tion ; from  which  time  forward  it  would  be  under  the  protective 
care  and  guardianship  of  the  state,  while  it  need  never  be  remo- 
ved from  the  daily,  weekly,  or  frequent  inspection  of  the  parents. 

Orphans,  of  course,  would  find  here  an  open  asylum.  If  pos- 
sessed of  property,  a contribution  would  be  paid  from  its  revenue 
to  the  common  educational  fund  ; if  unprovided,  they  would  be 
sustained  out  of  the  same. 

In  these  nurseries  of  a free  nation,  no  inequality  must  be  al- 
lowed to  enter.  Fed  at  a common  board  ; clothed  in  a common 
garb,  uniting  neatness  with  simplicity  and  convenience ; raised 
in  the  exercise  of  common  duties,  in  the  acquirement  of  the  same 
knowledge  and  practice  of  the  same  industry,  varied  only  accord- 
ing to  individual  taste  and  capabilities  ; in  the  exercise  of  the 
same  virtues,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  pleasures  ; in  the  study 
of  the  same  nature  ; in  pursuit  of  the  same  object — their  own  and 
each  other’s  happiness — say  ! would  not  such  a race,  when  arri- 
ved at  manhood  and  womanhood,  work  out  the  reform  of  society 
— perfect  the  free  institutions  of  America  ? 

I have  drawn  but  a sketch,  nor  could  I presume  to  draw  the 
picture  of  that  which  the  mind’s  eye  hath  seen  alone,  and  which  it 
is  for  the  people  of  this  land  to  realize. 

In  this  sketch,  my  friends,  there  is  nothing  but  what  is  practical 
and  practicable ; nothing  but  what  you  yourselves  may  con- 
tribute to  effect.  Let  the  popular  suffrage  be  exercised  with  a 
view  to  the  popular  good.  Let  the  industrious  classes,  and  all 
honest  men  of  all  classes,  unite  for  the  sending  to  the  legislatures 
those  who  will  represent  the  real  interests  of  the  many,  not  the 
imagined  interests  of  the  few — of  the  people  at  large,  not  of  any 
profession  or  class. 

To  develop  farther  my  views  on  this  all  important  subject  at 
the  present  time,  wpuld  be  to  fatigue  your  attention,  and  exhaust 
my  own  strength.  T shall  prosecute  this  subject  in  the  periodical 
of  which,  I am  editor, # which,  in  common  with  my  public  dis- 
courses, have  been,  and  will  ever  be,  devoted  to  the  common  cause 
of  human  improvement,  and  addressed  to  humankind  with- 
out distinction  of  nation,  class,  or  sect.  May  you,  my  fellow  be- 
ings, unite  in  the  same  cause,  in  the  same  spirit ! May  you  learn 


* The  Free  Enquirer,  published  in  New  York, 


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to  seek  truth  without  fear ! May  you  farther  learn  to  advocate 
truth  as  you  distinguish  it ; to  be  valiant  in  its  defence,  and  peace- 
ful while  valiant ; to  meet  all  things,  bear  all  things,  and  dare  all 
things  for  the  correction  of  abuses,  and  the  effecting,  in  private  and 
in  public,  in  your  own  minds,  through  the  minds  of  your  children, 
friends,  and  companions,  and,  above  all,  through  your  legisla - 
tures,  a radical  reform  in  all  your  measures,  whether  as  citizens, 
or  as  men  ’ 


freorge  II.  Evans,  Printer,  40  Thompson  street. 


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